Newswise — In a new SLAS Discovery auto-commentary, two authors of an article recently published in eLife (“LINE-1 Protein Localization and Functional Dynamics During the Cell Cycle” -- https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.30058.001) explain their general views on their novel discoveries and discuss ideas on the relevant new questions generated by their data.
Authors Paolo Mita and Jef D. Boeke employ genetic, biochemistry and imaging techniques to identify, characterize and ultimately employ the biological properties and the interactions of LINE-1 retrotransposons with mammalian cells. They added new pieces to the LINE-1 life-cycle puzzle, demonstrating the importance of the cell cycle in L1 cellular localization, activity, and surprisingly, revealing that the DNA replication complex is a possible new important regulator of LINE-1 activity.
Retrotransposons are retrovirus-like genetic units that are able to expand their copy number within the host genome. LINE-1 is a very relevant member of this class of transposable elements by reason of its activity in human cells. Retrotransposons play a pivotal role in the evolution of the genomes of virtually all organisms, including humans, rewiring the regulatory regions of genomes and providing reinvented genetic material for the evolution of new traits.
More recently, LINE-1 retrotransposons, previously thought to be expressed exclusively in specific stages of germline and embryonic development, are being shown to have unexpected roles in processes such as aging, brain activity, cancer immunology and cancer development. Despite this growing awareness of the relevance of LINE-1 retrotransposons, the basic mechanisms of how LINE-1 lives and proliferates in human cells are still debated.
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Cycling to Maintain and Improve Fitness: Line-1 Modes of Nuclear Entrance and Retrotransposition can be accessed for free for a limited time at http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2472555218767842. For more information about SLAS and its journals, visit www.slas.org/journals.
A PDF of this article is available to credentialed media outlets upon request. Contact [email protected].
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SLAS (Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening) is an international community of nearly 20,000 professionals and students dedicated to life sciences discovery and technology. The SLAS mission is to bring together researchers in academia, industry and government to advance life sciences discovery and technology via education, knowledge exchange and global community building.
SLAS DISCOVERY: 2016 Impact Factor 2.444. Editor-in-Chief Robert M. Campbell, Ph.D., Eli Lilly and Company, Indianapolis, IN (USA). SLAS Discovery (Advancing Life Sciences R&D) was previously published (1996-2016) as the Journal of Biomolecular Screening (JBS).
SLAS TECHNOLOGY: 2016 Impact Factor 2.850. Editor-in-Chief Edward Kai-Hua Chow, Ph.D., National University of Singapore (Singapore). SLAS Technology (Translating Life Sciences Innovation) was previously published (1996-2016) as the Journal of Laboratory Automation (JALA).
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